Revision as of 14:14, 13 March 2014

Compiz is a compositing window manager. It can replace the native window managers in desktop environments such as MATE and Xfce. The first version of Compiz was released in January 2006. In September 2006 several changes proposed for Compiz were rejected by the Compiz team. This led to the formation of Beryl - a fork of Compiz. In 2007 the Compiz and Beryl communities merged and Compiz was split into two projects: 'compiz-core' (the window manager) and 'compiz-fusion' (the decorator and plugins). In 2009 the two projects merged into a single unified project and the 'fusion' name was dropped. There are currently two branches of Compiz: the older 0.8.x branch which is written in C and the newer 0.9.x branch which is written in C++.

Installation

As of May 2013, Compiz is no longer available in the official repositories. There are a number of packages in the AUR which can provide a full Compiz experience. The packages listed in this section are known to provide a working Compiz configuration. Other Compiz packages are also available.

Installing the 0.9.x branch

Install one of the following two packages:

compiz-devAUR - This package provides the latest stable release of the 0.9.x branch. It includes the window manager, decorator, settings panel and plugins.

compiz-bzrAUR - This package provides the latest development version of the 0.9.x branch. It includes the window manager, decorator, settings panel and plugins.

Installing the 0.8.x branch

The basic window manager can be installed from one of the following two packages:

compiz-mateAUR - this package provides the window manager and decorator.

Tip: The compiz-mate and compiz-xfce packages are not required for Compiz to function in either desktop.

Installing a window decorator

The window decorator is the program which provides windows with borders. Unlike window managers such as mutter, Kwin or Xfwm, Compiz does not include a window decorator by default so you will need to install one yourself. Depending on which packages you used to install Compiz you may have a window decorator installed already. There are three main decorators used with Compiz:

Emerald - For those installing the 0.8.x branch, this decorator can be installed from the emeraldAUR package in the AUR. For those installing the 0.9.x branch, the emerald-gitAUR package provides the 0.9.x version of Emerald which should be compatible with the latest versions of Compiz. Users of either package may also wish to install the emerald-themesAUR package which provides a number of extra themes. Emerald supports a number of effects and has a wide variety of themes available.

gtk-window-decorator - For those installing the 0.8.x branch, this decorator is provided by the compizAUR, compiz-xfceAUR and compiz-mateAUR packages. If you are installing the compiz-coreAUR package instead, you can install the gtk-window-decorator separately from the compiz-decorator-gtk-no-gnomeAUR package. For those installing the 0.9.x branch, gtk-window-decorator is provided by the compiz-bzrAUR and compiz-devAUR packages. This decorator can use Metacity or Cairo themes.

kde-window-decorator - For those installing the 0.8.x branch, this decorator is provided by the compizAUR package. For those installing the 0.9.x branch, modify the PKGBUILD of compiz-devAUR or compiz-bzrAUR and set KDEWINDOWDECORATOR to "on". . Be aware that this decorator requires the kdebase-workspace package which installs a significant proportion of the KDE desktop. The kde-window-decorator uses the current Kwin theme.

Starting the window decorator

Firstly, ensure that you have a window decorator installed. Then, in a terminal enter the command: ccsm. In the settings panel, navigate to the 'Effects' section and ensure that the 'Window Decoration' plugin is ticked. Now click on the 'Window Decoration' button and in the 'Command' field enter the relevant command for your decorator - see below:

To set emerald as your default window decorator use:

$ emerald --replace

Many Emerald themes are available for download here. Emerald themes can be installed and managed using the emerald-theme-manager program. For downloaded themes, unzip the tarball and then install it using the 'Import' option in emerald-theme-manager.

To set the kde-window-decorator as your default window decorator use:

$ kde4-window-decorator --replace

Kwin themes can be downloaded, installed and managed using the KDEsystemsettings panel.

To set the gtk-window-decorator as your default window decorator use:

$ gtk-window-decorator --replace

Many Metacity themes are available for download here. Once downloaded, they should be unpacked into the user's ~/.themes directory (create it if it doesn't exist.) To select the theme open dconf-editor and expand org --> gnome --> desktop --> wm and click on 'preferences.' Change the value of the key 'Theme' to the name of the theme you wish to use. If changing the metacity theme has no effect, this is because the decorator is using a Cairo theme instead. To make the gtk-window-decorator use metacity themes, in GConf set apps/gwd/use_metacity_theme to TRUE. See the Compiz wiki for more information.

Tip: If you are using fusion-icon there is no need to set the decoration command as fusion-icon will set this automatically.

Starting Compiz

Enabling important plugins

Before starting Compiz, you should activate some plugins to provide basic window manager behaviour or else you will have no ability to drag, scale or close any windows. Important plugins are listed below:

To be able to switch to different workspaces you may wish to enable one of the following:

Desktop Cube & Rotate Cube - provides the spinning cube with each side being a workspace

Desktop Wall - workspaces are arranged next to each other (animation is similar to the workspace switching animation in Cinnamon and GNOME Shell.)

Expo - creates a view of all workspaces and windows when the mouse is moved into the top left corner (hotcorner position can be configured)

Tip:

For workspaces, ensure that in 'General Options' --> 'Desktop Size' the 'Vertical Virtual Size' and 'Number of Desktops' options are set to 1. For the Desktop Cube, the 'Horizontal Virtual Size' must be set to 4.

Desktop Wall and Desktop Cube cannot be used together. Expo can be used in conjunction with either of the aforementioned plugins.

With fusion-icon

Note: If fusion-icon is used, the native window manager will start first and will then be replaced by Compiz unless fusion-icon is being used to start a standalone Compiz session.

You can launch fusion-icon with the following command:

$ fusion-icon

Right click on the icon in the panel and go to 'select window manager'. Choose 'Compiz' if it isn't selected already. To enable fusion-icon on startup you need to autostart it. Refer to the Autostarting article and your desktop environment's article for further instruction.

Without fusion-icon

You can start Compiz using the following command:

$ compiz --replace ccp &

A quick overview over common Compiz command-line options:

--indirect-rendering: use indirect-rendering (AIGLX)

--loose-binding: can help performance issues (NVIDIA?)

--replace: replace current window-manager

--keep-window-hints: keep the gnome window manager gconf-settings for available viewports

--sm-disable: disable session-management

ccp: the 'ccp' command loads the last configured settings from CCSM (CompizConfig Settings Manager) otherwise Compiz will load with no settings and you won't be able to do anything with your windows like dragging, maximizing/minimizing, or moving.

Starting Compiz automatically without fusion-icon

The following section provides a number methods for autostarting Compiz in various desktop environments. Methods which involve starting the native window manager and then replacing it with Compiz have been indicated as such.

Click on the add button and in the command section enter the compiz --replace ccp & command. The name and comment sections are unimportant and are just there to indicate what the entry does. Log out and log in again and Compiz should start.

Warning: Ensure that the Compiz entry is disabled when starting GNOME Shell as it could cause the shell to crash or freeze.

MATE

Using gsettings

Use the following gsettings command to change the default window manager from marco to Compiz.

Using mate-session-properties

Note: If this method is used, marco will start first and will then be replaced by Compiz.

Another approach is to start Compiz using mate-session-properties. In a terminal enter the command:

$ mate-session-properties

Click on the add button and in the command section enter the compiz --replace ccp & command. The name and comment sections are unimportant and are just there to indicate what the entry does. Log out and log in again and Compiz should start.

Xfce

Modifying the failsafe session

To configure the default/failsafe session of Xfce, edit the ~/.config/xfce4/xfconf/xfce-perchannel-xml/xfce4-session.xml or (to make the change for all Xfce users) /etc/xdg/xfce4/xfconf/xfce-perchannel-xml/xfce4-session.xml:

Now you will need to log out. Ensure that the 'Save session for future logins' option in the logout dialogue is unticked or the edit will not take effect. Log in again and Compiz should start. Once you are sure Compiz is running you can tick the 'Save session for future login' option again.

Using Xfce application autostart

Note: If this method is used, Xfwm will start first and will then be replaced by Compiz.

In the Xfce main menu navigate to 'Settings' and click on 'Session and Startup.' Click on the 'Application Autostart' tab. Click the add button and in the command section enter the compiz --replace ccp & command. The name and comment sections are unimportant and are just there to indicate what the entry does. Log out and log in again and Compiz should start.

Using Compiz as a standalone window manager

Starting the session with a display manager

A standalone Compiz session can be started from a display manager. For most display manager's (LightDM, LXDM, GDM etc) all that's required is to create a .desktop file in /usr/share/xsessions defining the Compiz session. See the article for your display manager to check if this is the case.

Firstly, create the /usr/share/xsessions directory if it does not already exist. Then create the .desktop file. A basic example is provided below:

Note: Some display managers are stricter than others regarding the syntax of .desktop files. If a Compiz option does not appear in your display manager's session menu you will need to edit your .desktop file to make it compatible. The example above should work in most cases.

Autostarting programs when using a display manager

One way in which you could start programs with your Compiz session, when it is started from a display manager, is to use an xprofile file. The xprofile file is similar in syntax to xinitrc - it can contain commands for programs you wish to start with your session. Most display managers will parse commands from an xprofile file by default. See the xprofile wiki article for more details.

Alternatively, you could use Compiz's 'Session Management' plugin. This plugin will save running programs on exit and restore them when the session is next started. Simply enable the 'Session Management' plugin in ccsm.

Starting the session with startx

To start Compiz with the startx command configure .xinitrc to launch Compiz as:

~/.xinitrc

exec compiz ccp

You can also use fusion icon as shown below:

~/.xinitrc

exec fusion-icon

You can autostart additional programs (such as a panel) by adding the relevant command to your ~/.xinitrc file. Below is an example of a ~/.xinitrc file which starts Compiz (through fusion-icon), the tint2 panel and the Cairo dock.

Add a root menu

To add a root menu similar to that in Openbox and other standalone window managers you can install the compiz-boxmenuAUR package. This program is a fork of compiz-deskmenuAUR. Among the changes that the fork introduces are the addition of some extra features such as a window list and a recent documents list.

After installing the compiz-boxmenuAUR package, copy the config files to your home directory as shown below:

where username is your username and group is the primary group for your user.

Then, open ccsm, navigate to the 'Commands' plugin and in 'Command line 0' enter the command compiz-boxmenu. In the 'Key Bindings' tab, set 'Run command 0' to Control+Space (you can use the 'Grab key combination' option to simplify this process.)

Now navigate to the 'Viewport Switcher' plugin and click on the 'Desktop-based Viewport Switching' tab. Change the 'Plugin for initiate action' to core and change 'Action name for initiate' to run_command0_key.

You should now find that a menu appears when you click Control+Space. To launch a graphical menu editor, click on the 'Edit' option or run compiz-boxmenu-editor in a terminal. If you would prefer to edit your menu manually, open the following file in your favourite editor: ~/.config/compiz/boxmenu/menu.xml. For your changes to take effect, you must click the 'Reload' option in your menu.

Warning: Whilst Control+Space is the default keybinding for compiz-boxmenu you can assign the menu to other keybindings or mousebindings as well. Take extreme care if doing so as Compiz bindings will take precedence over keybindings of all other programs. For instance, if you assign compiz-boxmenu to Button3 then you may lose right click functionality in all programs. If the keybinding/mousebinding you are attempting to create has any conflicts, cssm will notify you.

Allow users to shutdown/reboot

An unprivileged user should be able to execute commands such as systemctl poweroff and systemctl reboot. You could assign a keyboard shortcut to one of these commands using the 'Commands' plugin in ccsm. Alternatively, you could create a launcher for one of these commands in compiz-boxmenuAUR (See the above section.) For more detailed information on shutting down see this article.

Utilities

Panels & docks

There are a number of panels and docks available in Arch - see this article - however only a few are compatible with Compiz's implementation of workspaces:

In each case, simply map the command to Alt+F2 (or a key combination of your choice) via the 'Commands' plugin in ccsm

Tips and tricks

Restoring the native window manager

You can switch back to your desktop environment's default window manager with the following command:

wm_name --replace

with kwin, metacity or xfwm4 instead of wm_name.

Keyboard shortcuts

Below is a list of the default keyboard shortcuts for Compiz. The 'Commands' plugin needs to be activated in the CCSM panel.

Switch windows = Alt+Tab.

Switch to next desktops = Ctrl+Alt+←.

Switch to previous desktop = Ctrl+Alt+→.

Move window = Alt+Left click.

Resize window = Alt+Right click.

A more detailed list can be found under CommonKeyboardShortcuts in the Compiz wiki or you can always just look at your plugin's configuration.

Enable window snapping in Compiz

If you want to compare two windows side by side by dragging them to the edges of the screen, similar to the 'Aero Snap' feature introduced in Windows 7, enable the 'Grid' plugin in ccsm. If you are using the 'Desktop Wall' or 'Rotate Cube' plugin then disable the 'Edge Flip' options in that plugin's section to ensure that windows do not move to the next desktop when dragged to the screen edge.

Tip: The plugin in ccsm labelled 'Snapping Windows' merely adds resistance to the edges of the screen. It does not resize windows that are dragged to the screen edge.

Profiles

Profiles allow you to switch between different sets of Compiz settings easily. To create a new profile open ccsm and click on the 'Preferences' tab. Under 'Profile' click the plus sign to add a new profile or the minus sign to delete one. All changes made in ccsm will be written to your current profile.

Profiles are specific to the backend you are using. For instance, if you are using the gsettings backend then any new profile you create will be a gsettings profile. If you switch to a different backend then your current profile will not work and you will automatically switch to a profile available for that backend.

Note: If you see more than one profile named 'Default' this is likely because you have used more than one backend e.g. you will have a default profile for ini and a default profile for gsettings or gconf.

Backends

By default Compiz stores its configuration settings in a plain text file ~/.config/compiz-1/compizconfig/Default.ini. In ccsm this is known as 'Flat-file Configuration Backend.'

Compiz can also store its settings in the gsettings or gconf databases. To change how Compiz saves its settings open ccsm and click on the 'Preferences' tab in the left hand column. Then choose your desired backend from the list under 'Backend.'

You can also change the backend manually by editing the ~/.config/compiz-1/compizconfig/config file.

Edit the line below:

backend = ini

ini = Flat File Configuration Backend

gsettings = GSettings Configuration Backend

gconf = GConf Configuration Backend

Once you have edited and saved the file the change will take place immediately. There is no need to log out.

Centered window placement for all windows in Compiz 0.9.x

In the 0.9.x version of ccsm, the 'Centered' option for the 'Place Windows' plugin no longer exists in the 'Placement Mode' menu. However, the option for centered window placement still exists in the 'Fixed Window Placement' tab and it is possible to apply this setting to all windows, effectively overriding the 'Placement Mode' setting in the 'General' tab. To ensure that all windows are started in the center of the screen, navigate to the 'Fixed Window Placement' tab of the 'Place Windows' plugin. Under the 'Windows with fixed placement mode' section click on the 'New' button. A dialog box should appear. In the 'Windows' field enter type=Normal. From the 'Mode' menu, select the 'Centered' option.

Tip: If you only want to ensure that a particular window starts centered, then enter title=window title where 'window title' is the title of the window. If you have xorg-xprop installed then window properties can be filled automatically using the 'Grab' button.

Troubleshooting

Missing GLX_EXT_texture_from_pixmaps

On ATI cards (first solution)

You may run into the following error when trying to run Compiz on an ATI card:

Missing GLX_EXT_texture_from_pixmap

This is because Compiz's binary was compiled against Mesa's OpenGL library rather than ATI's OpenGL library (which is what you are using).

copy the library into a directory to keep it because ATI's drivers will over write it.

$ install -Dm644 /usr/lib/libGL.so.1.2 /usr/lib/mesa/libGL.so.1.2

Then you can reinstall your fglrx drivers. Now start Compiz using the following syntax example:

LD_PRELOAD=/usr/lib/mesa/libGL.so.1.2 compiz --replace ccp &

On ATI cards (second solution)

Another possible problem with 'GLX_EXT_texture_from_pixmap' on ATI cards is that the card can only render it indirectly. If so, you have to pass the option to your libgl as shown below:

If you are using an Intel GMA card with AIGLX, you will need to start Compiz with LIBGL_ALWAYS_INDIRECT=1 prepended to the command line and run compiz with the --indirect-rendering option.

Compiz starts without window borders with NVIDIA binary drivers

Firstly ensure that you have configured the settings discussed here correctly. If window borders still do not start try adding Option "AddARGBGLXVisuals" "True" and Option "DisableGLXRootClipping" "True" to your "Screen" section in /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/20-nvidia.conf. If window borders still do not load and you have used other Options elsewhere in /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/ try commenting them out and using only the aformentioned ARGBGLXVisuals and GLXRootClipping Options.

Blank screen on resume from suspend-to-ram using the NVIDIA binary drivers

If you receive a blank screen with a responsive cursor upon resume, try disabling sync to vblank. To do so, open ccsm, navigate to the 'OpenGL' plugin and untick the 'Sync to VBlank' option.

Poor performance from capable graphics cards

NVIDIA and Intel chips: If everything is configured correctly but you still have poor performance with some effects, try disabling CCSM > General Options > Display Settings > Detect Refresh Rate and instead choose a value manually.

NVIDIA chips only: The inadequate refresh rate with 'Detect Refresh Rate' may be due to an option called 'DynamicTwinView' being enabled by default which plays a factor in accurately reporting the maximum refresh rate that your card and display support. You can disable 'DynamicTwinView' by adding the following line to the "Device" or "Screen" section of your /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/20-nvidia.conf, and then restarting your computer:

Option "DynamicTwinView" "False"

Screen flicks with NVIDIA card

To fix this behaviour create the file below:

/etc/modprobe.d/nvidia.conf

options nvidia NVreg_RegistryDwords="PerfLevelSrc=0x2222"

Compiz effects not working (gconf backend)

If you have installed the gtk-window-decorator, check if the GConf schema was correctly installed:

$ gconftool-2 -R /apps/compiz/plugins | grep plugins

Make sure that all plugins are listed. If they are not, try to install the Compiz schema manually (do not run this command as root):

the problem is with the permission on ~/.config/compiz/. To fix it, use:

# chown -R username /home/username/.config/compiz/

Tip: If ~/.config/compiz/ does not exist, the directory in question may be ~/.config/compiz-1/ instead.

All windows start maximised

This behaviour appears to be a bug affecting the 'Pointer' window placement mode in the 'Place Windows' plugin. Changing the placement mode should resolve this issue. To do so, open ccsm, click on the 'Place Windows' plugin and set the 'Placement Mode' to another setting such as 'Smart.'

No Alt+F2 run dialog in MATE

If you are using Compiz in MATE follow the instructions below to restore the Alt+F2 run dialog.

Start ccsm. Ensure that the 'Commands' plugin is ticked. Click on the 'Commands' button and enter the following command in a free command line box e.g. 'Command line 0'

mate-panel --run-dialog

Then click on the 'Key Bindings' tab. Click on the button labelled 'Disabled' for the appropriate command line box e.g. if you entered the command in 'Command line 0' click the 'Disabled' box next to 'Run command 0.' In the box that appears tick the 'Enabled' option. Then click the 'Grab key combination' button and hit Alt+F2. Click 'Ok.'

Tip: If the Alt+F2 run dialog window is always launched out of focus then start ccsm, click on 'General Options' and click on the 'Focus & Raise Behaviour' tab. Change the 'Focus Prevention Level' setting to 'Off.'

Mouse scroll wheel not working in GTK+ 3 applications

You may find that the scroll wheel on your mouse allows you to scroll in GTK+ 2 applications but not in GTK+ 3 applications. This is likely because you have enabled the 'Viewport Switcher' plugin in ccsm. Enabling this plugin creates a conflict between the 'Viewport Switcher' bindings, which use mouse scroll to switch between Viewports, and scrolling in GTK+ 3 applications. To fix the issue, open ccsm, navigate to the 'Viewport Switcher' plugin and click on the 'Desktop-based Viewport Switching' tab. Map the 'Move Next' and 'Move Prev' options to a different binding or disable them altogether.